Dr. Gandhi has been instrumental in overseeing the financial resurrection of the District of Columbia and in generating an overall financial structure for the city that not only has provided annual surpluses but also has infused Wall Street with the confidence to, year-after-year, improve the city’s bond ratings and lower our cost of capital.

The District borrowed $584 million to build the stadium and though development around the stadium has been slowed, the District's several sources of revenue to pay off the loan has raised millions of dollars more than necessary to pay the annual debt service obligations.

Over the years, our bond rating has increased from “junk bond” status to an “A+” on our General Obligation bonds and the highest rating of “AAA” on our income tax bonds. The District’s finances remain strong, and we had a good story to tell when we visited the rating agencies on Wall Street.

Friday night was the Volta Park fundraiser at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. A large number of Georgetowners and other advocates turned out to show their support. Mayor Gray, Councilmember Catania and I all attended and gave our support. Of course, Mimsy Linder was the Mistress of Ceremonies and again made sure the weekend ran smoothly.

This week Council’s Subcommittee on Redistricting held two public hearings in the Council Chamber. According to federal law, the District must perform a redistricting of its eight Wards within 90 days of the Council’s receipt of the Census report, which happens every ten years.

The unique problem with the Mayor's budget is that it calls for $300 million more in spending than the FY 2011 budget. The budget has grown by over 3% when budgets of cities and states nationwide are shrinking.

It is that time of the year when everyone is giving their “State of the […]” speeches. The President delivered his State of the Union. The Mayor delivered his State of the City. Some of my Council colleagues even give “State of the Ward” speeches. So instead of a speech, I thought I would relate my own “State of the City” here.

Last Tuesday, we elected the people who will lead the District of Columbia starting in January. My colleague, Vince Gray, will take office as our new Mayor and Kwame Brown as Chair of the Council. The challenges before elected leaders are tremendous, and the next several weeks will be crucial in determining the fiscal future of the District.

The Council and Mayor are beginning to address the revenue shortfall and budget gap now anticipated in fiscal year 2011, which started October 1. To that end, the Mayor took immediate action to freeze personnel hiring and procurements. Our government faces a shortfall of $100 million in declining revenue and $75 million in various spending pressures. In the grand scheme of things, we have little control over the economy, we can’t make the stock market perform better, and we can’t make commercial property sell for more. But what we CAN control is what we spend, and I believe that should be the focus of our efforts.

The question on everyone’s mind these days is: What’s next for school reform?

On Wednesday, October 13, Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced her resignation, and Mayor Fenty and Chairman Gray jointly announced the appointment of Kaya Henderson, Rhee’s deputy, to serve as interim Chancellor.

The September Democratic primary has come and gone and the Council’s summer recess is over. It’s back to school, back to work, and back to reality...literally! After a heated campaign, we have my colleagues Vince Gray as the Democratic nominee for Mayor and Kwame Brown for Chair. And we have an outgoing Mayor Fenty with three more months on the job. Together we face a tremendous challenge right off the bat – rebalancing the fiscal year 2011 budget, which began October 1st.